Presented at the evening ceremony which marked the conclusion of the recent Builders Merchants Federation Annual Members’ Conference, the BMF Building & Marketing Excellence Awards recognise the real-life achievements of talented young people working in the building materials sector.
Young Merchant Achiever 2025: Louise Parkes, Marketing Manager, Collier & Catchpole
In just three years, Louise has transformed the way Collier & Catchpole communicates as a business, and engages with customers, suppliers and employees. Initially faced with a vague brief — “let people know who we are and what we do” — Louise spent time in branches, with suppliers and customers to understand the business.
Crucially, she recognised that digital marketing is about storytelling and emotional connection. Her initiatives — including dynamic social media content, reimagined supplier events and showcasing colleagues’ achievements in the marketing story — have boosted brand visibility and engagement across the board. Suppliers want to participate, staff are proud of their roles, and customers view Collier & Catchpole as a people-first, service-oriented business.
With no formal marketing qualifications, Louise has invested time developing her skills while staying laser-focused on business goals and delivering measurable and meaningful results. She leads and inspires new standards for digital engagement in the merchant industry, where Collier & Catchpole routinely outperforms local and regional competitors and even surpasses national merchants on certain metrics.
Silver Award: Curtis Wherry, Key Accounts Manager, Bradfords Building Supplies
Having joined as a Yard Assistant in 2017, Curtis quickly progressed to Internal Sales, where his ability to build relationships and sell effectively was soon apparent. Promoted to Key Account Supervisor in 2022 for a new office in Cornwall, he was instrumental in helping to exceed its Year 1 Budget and backed this up with record individual sales the following year.
His effective communication with both customers and colleagues, willingness to learn, and commitment to ongoing improvement have all contributed to his success. Promoted to Key Accounts Manager in 2024, he rose to the new challenge of managing and motivating his team, delivering £9m worth of sales and becoming the joint top Key Account Sales office and Salesperson of the Year. Achieving this in just three years is an incredible achievement and reflects Curtis’s drive and commitment.
Bronze Award: Craig Smith, Timber Manager, BPS
Since joining BPS as a 16-year-old school leaver in 2015, Craig has impressed with his natural ability to connect with people and cultivate relationships. He successfully channelled these skills as a Sales Executive and became the youngest Sales Manager in the company’s history on his promotion in 2022.
His strong leadership skills saw him regularly support the operations team. This led him to continue his personal growth and development, completing an Operations/Department Manager Level 5 Apprenticeship in 2024 and stepping into an Acting Branch Manager role to advance his management skills.
Following a further promotion to Timber Manager, and still in his mid-20s, Craig is an extremely valued colleague, running a team across both sales and operations, ensuring tasks are completed accurately and on time, and that customers’ needs are being met.
The BMF Training Company of the Year Award, meanwhile, was deservedly won by Robert Price Builders Merchants.
In a category proudly sponsored by PBM, the South Wales and Herefordshire-based independent merchants was shown to have demonstrated a real belief in providing learning and development opportunities for all team members, encouraging them to reach their potential through a broad range of BMF training programmes.
These have included the Pathway to Branch Management, Certificate in Merchant Management, the ‘Sales Excellence Journey’ six-month Talent Development Programme, the Branch Management Forum, Key Account Management Training and a bespoke Internal Sales Management Programme, all alongside supporting the Apprenticeship Pledge, the ongoing Sector Awareness Campaign and other BMF engagement initiatives.
Further training and skills development opportunities will continue to follow — whether sales, management or operational — especially as the business expands and increases its workforce, ensuring new starters understand its innate company culture.
Further details of all the winners from this year’s BMF Awards, along with perspectives from the Annual Members’ Conference itself, will follow in due course.
The main image shows Young Merchant Achiever 2025 Louise Parkes, flanked by Silver Award winner Curtis Wherry (right) and Bronze Award winner Craig Smith (left).
